Caring for Caretakers
Our work as doulas gives us the ability to step back from the patient who is dying and see the larger picture. Even better, we can do something about it.
Time and Energy
Every aspect of life that requires you to show up is going to demand two major resources: time and energy. Whether the challenge is raising a family, maintaining a career, going back to school to gain new skills, or just indulging in a hobby that enriches your spirit—if you don’t put your energy into it, you won’t get good results. And if you don’t put any time in, well, it might not happen at all.
A Foundation for the Future
What distinguishes IDLM from many other programs is its integrative and forward-thinking approach. IDLM prepares doulas to work with hospice systems, not outside of them. The curriculum includes education on early hospice enrollment advocacy, regulatory awareness, ethical boundaries, and professional communication within healthcare environments.
The Value of Community Spirit
We talk a great deal about the ways we serve; the things we do for the people we assist. But it is important to take time to also consider whom we serve. We serve our clients: end-of-life patients and their families. In addition to that, as doulas, we also work to serve the communities we are a part of, whether we are currently working with individual clients or not.
The Modern Good Death
One of the most beautiful aspects of being a doula is helping people to take ownership of their own death, and helping them realize that it doesn’t need to look the way they think it’s supposed to look. It can look however they want. And as doulas, we have the privilege of helping them put it all together.
Getting Yourself Out There!
It probably won’t be easy, especially if you’re starting from scratch. But nothing worth really doing is ever easy, and the good news is you have the whole community at IDLM behind you, supporting you every step of the way.
Winding Down and Winding Back Up
Whether this year is the very start of your doula career or whether it’s a new chapter in your continuing story, the work you do with your clients is going to be unique. No two doulas are the same, and no two clients are the same. The thing we all have in common is a desire to serve our clients and our communities.
Gearing Up for 2026
The start of a new year is always a great time for new beginnings, and in 2026 the plan is for IDLM to start big and then keep getting bigger. We are so proud and grateful to be celebrating five whole years of teaching, care, and community, and we are so glad to have you here as a part of that.
Caring for the Caretakers
We all know the importance of self care. Part of client care is making sure that the people who are caring for their loved ones have the time and the opportunity to care for themselves as well, whether that means getting away for an afternoon to do some shopping or just a couple of hours to get a decent meal and a nap.
Playing the Long Game
In many places, death work is still not normalized. The problem isn’t that people don’t want or need the services of a death doula; it’s that they have never heard of a death doula in the first place. Nobody they know has ever hired a death doula. Why should they?
